Matthew Tully: Area students offer candidates sound advice on education

Nov. 3, 2012

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About 60 freshmen recently became the first class at IPS' new Gambold Preparatory Magnet High School, and I'd suggest going to talk to them if you want to hear thoughtful conversations about the future during these otherwise unhinged political times.

I met with four students last week after a brief tour of the school, which was created to meet the demand for a rigorous college-prep high school from families of students who attend some of the district's stellar feeder schools, such as the Centers for Inquiry and Sidener Academy. It's early in the school's first year, but it seems to be filling the need nicely. And a conversation with a few of its students reinforced the notion that more must be done to make sure Indianapolis students have great education choices.

With Election Day approaching, the students had a lot on their minds. Pandora Ward, 14, for instance, said she was "worried about education because some students take it for granted. They don't realize how important an education is to be able to reach your dreams."

So to political candidates hoping to win their elections this week, Pandora asked: "How would you change the way students see education?"

It's a question every candidate should have been required to answer this election year -- whether running for president of the United States or president of the school board.

Pandora and her classmates talked with passion about education, bemoaning, for instance, the increased on testing. Thoughtfully, they said they understood the need for tests, to both make sure students are learning and to gauge the caliber of a school. But they fear teachers are being stripped of their creativity and ability to build relationships with students.

"We need to come together as a community," 15-year-old William Stone said, "and that means more communication with each other."

This week's elections will usher in a new IPS school board, and Statehouse races will help shape upcoming education policy debates. Amid all the talk about charter schools and vouchers, Stone said he would like to see policymakers focus on the most basic issue: student attendance, an issue that cripples too many schools.

"You can't teach kids if they are not here," he said, "so you have to find a way to get them here. Some don't value education and we have to change that."

Doing so is a monumental task. But Gambold appears to offer an inspiring example of what can be achieved in a struggling district. Students there talked of being greeted by a daunting level of rigor and being excited about the focus on applying skills and knowledge rather than just learning for the sake of a test.

"School really should be about personal growth and achievement and your hopes and dreams," Jade Stiles, 15, said. "Schools should be made an experience that you want to have. It's not about being a statistic."

She's right. And although each of the students I met is likely to graduate from college, they offered concern about other students in the district who won't even graduate from high school.

Isaac Vaught, an aspiring screenwriter, said his classes at IPS magnet schools have been filled with great teachers. But he agrees with those who stress the need to "judge the effectiveness of our teachers, and to keep the good ones in the schools," and he'd like to see the new school board focus intently on that.

In the end, each of the students said they wanted a great education and to see their district and its students overcome obstacles that have led to depressing graduation rates. They want to be challenged and to have high expectations placed on them. And they want those running the district to take, as Pandora said, those "extra steps to help as many of us as possible get into college."

Despite all of the silliness that has clouded this election year, that's what these elections -- for president, governor and on down -- should really be about.